Editor:
Re: A 'huge leap in the right direction,’ Sept. 25; In with the old, out with the new, Sept. 25 letters.
Regarding all of the negative feedback you’ve received about the new waste program in Surrey, I can see the point of view of some people who may find it hard to get the new bins to and from their homes, as they are quite large.
However, the city has stated that people with such problems will receive help in doing so.
Overall, this program is a great idea, and it’s about time it’s been put into action. Since the last pickup, I’ve been using my kitchen green bin for all my food waste, and have noticed that my family has literally cut the garbage we throw out by one-third already, and it’s only been a few days.
My children have to live on this earth when I’m gone – so do their children, and so on – and I’m all for anything that will help us treat the earth with the respect it deserves.
We are lucky to have such a beautiful place to live. It will not be beautiful much longer unless we all take responsibility and do our part.
I am disappointed at all the negative comments about the program. A little inconvenience will result in a better planet for us all.
L.McMaster, Surrey
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You expect the rituals of a religion to become more complex and arcane over time, and so it is with recycling.
Just when the problems with the new collection agency seemed to be worked out, Surrey decides to totally upend a working system and replace it with something truly bizarre.
Mayor Dianne Watts and city managers may think wild creatures are as stupid as Surrey voters, but they aren’t. Even when we had locking garbage containers with sealed plastic bags, the slightest hint of fish oil or food smell on the outside would bring the raccoons forth to rend and tear, followed by the crows to pillage and scatter.
The new organic waste bins not only don’t lock, they force you to place the organic waste inside with no smell-proof plastic bagging. For rats, raccoons and crows a golden age of scavaging began Oct. 1.
If Watts’ goal was to increase the rat population, this project will succeed magnificently.
Ed Beauregard, Surrey
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Although this new Rethink Waste program being implemented in Surrey may introduce a small amount of adaptation to residents, it’s important to keep perspective.
After travelling in such developing countries as Indonesia, Cambodia and Nepal – where garbage pickup does not always happen and recycling is virtually unheard of – I have a new appreciation of how fortunate we are to live in Canada where these things are a priority.
We don’t have to walk through litter-strewn streets or dodge a deluge of plastics and other garbage in our streams and oceans, as they do. We have a government that cares about the environment and strives to keep our communities clean.
Government officials were elected by us to represent our best interests as a collective, even when we, as individuals, may not see it that way.
I know change can be difficult, but it seems to me the old blue bins could easily be toppled by curious birds and dogs, with the contents strewn all over the road – along with a hodgepodge of garbage cans of all colour, size and condition that were even more of an eyesore than these new, easy-to-close bins will be.
Unfortunately, White Rock will not be getting the new cans for budgetary and other reasons, but I, for one, am looking upon this initiative as forward-thinking and praiseworthy and hope that people will start to rethink their negative reactions and start being grateful instead of hateful about the program.
M. Middleton, White Rock
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Yes, here we go with these new garbage bins in Surrey, and they made a huge mistake with which bins they ordered.
Does anyone see a lock on the lids? No, because they don’t have them. Check with the other areas, Port Moody etc. They all have them because of the raccoons and other large rodents that go after the organic waste and knock them over.
Guaranteed, they will have to replace these soon when the complaints start coming in.
Now, how much is that going to cost Surrey? There goes all the savings they were going to have in the first couple years. And of course we will be paying for it on our taxes.
Leslie Ford, Surrey
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Reading the paper today, I was very disappointed at how negative some of the responses are in regards to the new recycling and garbage bins.
Comments such as “waste of taxpayers’ money,” “ugly” and “cumbersome” were just a few of the terms used to describe them.
The bins are actually lightweight and easy to maneuver. I was excited when I saw them in my driveway. Even more impressed when I read the accompanying paperwork that was so easy to understand. But most of all, happy and proud that someone initiated this movement to cut down on landfill waste.
One of the complaints stated the bins are “too ugly” to store in their yard. Everyone will have these “ugly” bins – which I don’t think they are – so who are you trying to impress? Have they thought of how “ugly” our beautiful country and planet will be if we continue to throw all of our garbage in landfills over time?
With our population boom and added disposal requirements, where do they think extra garbage is going to go? We don’t see it now because it is kindly carted far, far away and some of us just pretend it disappears into thin air. But eventually, the room will run out and all the garbage we could have recycled in the past years, but didn’t, will come back to haunt us.
And then we will have no one left to blame but ourselves. So in retrospect, how hard done by are we to have “ugly” bins in our driveway?
As far as a “waste of taxpayers’ money,” this is one of the few things I will gladly see my tax dollars go to.
Jane Gobin, Surrey
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Yet another ‘garbage letter.’
The good news being that according to your Sept. 25 article on the subject, if readers don’t find this useful, they can always line their kitchen pail with the paper!
Enough with the bellyaching. We don’t like change but we got it, so here’s my suggestion. I found the aforementioned article particularly enlightening as, although I thought I was well informed on the subject, I was amazed to learn I could put “food-soiled paper like… pizza boxes in my green bin”.
I suggest for the garbage challenged amongst us that you publish an alphabetical list of household garbage indicating in which bin it belongs as a reference tool.
While you are at it, could you publish an alphabetical listing of the new season tv shows indicating day and time as I’m finding that transition even more arduous.
Bet these two editions wouldn’t make their way to the kitchen pail anytime soon!
Susan Beechinor-Carter, Surrey